To the Editor:
I had the privilege of attending the "Racial Profiling" discussion group at the Shabazz house on Nov. 7. I was shocked at some of the bankrupt philosophical assumptions that I discovered are present at Dartmouth and in some of the attendees of the meeting. As a thinking Dartmouth student, I am obligated to comment on the blind leading the blind at this meeting. I heard all sorts of immoral suggestions perpetrated as solutions. Instead of sound policy and rational ideas, I heard more racism glorified under the premises of black solidarity and "diversity" education. Instead of using the time to analyze our philosophical and ethical assumptions, some of the attendees took potshots at the president and blamed the empire of "White America" and the media for their stereotypes and biases. More importantly, still caught up in a tribalistic framework, their collectivist solutions and accusations would only aggravate the solution rather than help it. Instead of a victim's cry, I submit to you the only rational answer to racism: individualism.
This problem stems from the philosophical assumptions of tribalism and collectivism: an individual's value is derived from and determined by group characteristics. Instead of that tripe, let me assert an Enlightenment principle our country was founded on: each individual should be judged on his own merit by the objective standard of reason.
Consequently, what we must do is extirpate all forms of collectivism on campus and in our individual lives. It is necessary to end such things as the diversity movement with its diversity awareness, training, hiring and admissions policies. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by groups like the KKK, neo-Nazis and the Black Panthers because there is a common thread among all the groups and the diversity movement: race as a determining factor and emphasis on racial characteristics instead of individual ones. Until we acknowledge that collectivist concepts such as race are creations of society and have no real significance, then we are doomed to failure from the beginning. Instead, support a radical departure from the collectivist mentality and embrace individualism.
